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Tom Reed,who previously covered the Blue Jackets for The Dispatch, is back after a five-year absence while working for the newspaper in that city up north: Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter at @treed1919

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Dubinsky Excited To Join CBJ

Posted Jul 25, 2012
by Aaron Portzline

Brandon Dubinsky spent most of today in Columbus. He took a brief tour of the city, turned his head and coughed for the medical team (he passed), met the Blue Jackets administration and media in the afternoon, and dined at Hyde Park in the Short North, where his loud sportcoat, Louis Vuitton sunglasses and 1920s gangster-style hair-don't wouldn't be out of place.

This guy will get along great with Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski, the club's boldest dresser since Nikolai Zherdev left town. Wisniewski might have an issue with Dubinsky's 'do, though. It's heavy wax with a hard part, sharp form the left side of his head. It's two fingers of gel away from matching Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck.

"I like to think it's timeless," Dubinsky said. Then he laughed.

Those worried about Dubinsky's excitement level after leaving the Stanley Cup-contending New York Rangers for the bottom-feeder Blue Jackets can breathe easy.

"The hardest thing is leaving the people you meet, the people you grow close with," Dubinsky said. "Not only the players and the staff, but the fans of New York, the city of New York and the friends you meet, outside the game of hockey. I met my wife there. She has some of her best friends there. Those are the hard things to walk away from.

"I look at the hockey part of this as an opportunity, a great opportunity for me. I've said it 50 times probably since the deal happened -- I like the group we have here. I think collectively we can do something special. This is an organization that wants success and is moving in the right direction for it. I'm excited to be a part of it.

"

Then, after a pause, he went at it even stronger.

"Look, every player has to say they're excited to join a new team. But I can truly say that I'm excited to be here, excited to be part of this team. There's so much opportunity here to better my career, so much opportunity to help this team win. I'm excited for that."

As one reporter began to ask Dubinsky about the difficulty of leaving the powerhouse Rangers, he interjected this thought: "I don't want this to get confused -- we have aspirations to win the Cup here in Columbus, too."

Dubinsky touched on a few other points, too.

-- Self-assessment: "I'm not going to make any statistical promises, but one thing I will promise is that you'll get the effort and the energy every night from me. I bring a lot of passion to the game. I'll help this team in a lot of areas."

-- Further self-assessment: "I can't promise I'm going to score every night. But you'll get every ounce of energy out of me each game."

-- Put him at center, put him on the wing. "I'll play anywhere they put me."

-- He's ever-thankful for the impact Ranger coaches Tom Renney and John Tortorella had on his career. Of Tortorella he said: "He's no nonsense. You saw it the year before when I had my good year, he wasn't afraid to put a guy like Marian Gaborik on the bench. That's just the way he coaches. He doesn't care about numbers, or who you are and what you've done, or how much you make. He's always coached just based on how you're doing now. He did a lot for my career. I have nothing but amazing things to say and amazing memories with those guys. They gave me an opportunity to be an NHL player. I'm indebted to them."

-- Monday's trade was the first time he'd been traded in his career. But his name has circulated in rumors for the last few seasons. "For most of my time in New York, whenever there was a trade rumor I was involved. I guess that's good and bad. It's good to be wanted. It's tough to read about every day. Now that it's done, it is a little bit of a relief. I'm not going to have to deal with those ... at least for the next month or so."

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